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Happy Love Day

1 John 4:19 (NIV) We love because he first loved us.

We all want someone to lay down their lives for us. We want someone to make the greatest sacrifice so that I know that I am loved. Jesus did that when He died on the cross for us. We are suppose to do it every day because of that great love.

John 15:13 (AMP) No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends.

Yesterday, during Love Sunday, my husband and I got to minister together. We talked about us being created for a purpose. Marriage has a purpose. Marriage is not to give each other purpose, it is to enhance our created purpose. In marriage we get to do it together.

Genesis 1:28 (AMP) And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

Our union was not just to have lots and lots of babies. We can be fruitful and multiply and it not apply to having children. They are a bonus, my children are not my purpose. The anointing for multiplication is on my life and on yours. We are called to fill the earth with our ideas and concepts planted in our hearts by Him. I am believing for the unusual. I am believing for the unheard of and outlandish blessing to be poured out on my life. Why? Everything that is birthed through me will subdue the earth. We are called to walk in dominion all the days of our lives (men and women). We were given this authority by Jesus.

There is no greater motivator than love. In receiving it and in giving it. God speaks love all around us. He created us in love. In turn we love each other in our actions, because He first loved us.

Last week I had an amazing time showing love. Widows were delivered flowers. Conversations were had with grocery store clerks (not just exchanging pleasantries, but now I know that they work multiple jobs and looking for a new apartment). Future plans have been made to touch back with all of them. One chance encounter changed my perspective on Mary pouring the oil to anoint Jesus for burial. What if you were someone’s last encounter before they left this life? Would they know they were loved? Would they know they were seen?

What opportunities will be opened up to me this week? I was created for a purpose. To be fruitful, to multiply and to fill the earth, and subjugate it through love.

John 3:16 (AMP) For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Happy Love Day!

Check out the full message on YouTube: Love Sunday 2022

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Two Forty Somethings at Disney

Malachi 2:15 (MSG) God, not you, made marriage. His Spirit inhabits even the smallest details of marriage. And what does he want from marriage? Children of God, that’s what. So guard the spirit of marriage within you.

Every year my husband and I do a message called “Love Sunday.” This year the message will take place on Sunday, February 13th. It is something we started when Valentine’s Day fell on a Sunday, once we became lead pastors, and we have continued it ever since. In preparation, I usually spend a month before studying and getting as much material together as possible. We do not just need to teach this, we need to be doers (as we have), but we needed to step it up a notch.

This year my husband and I will be married twenty two years. That is a long time for some. To me, it is just the beginning. My grandparents were married for over sixty years before they passed away. One thing I remember about them, even after the kids had grown up and left, was they sat down together for breakfast every morning. When I was a little girl, I remember my grandfather would come in from working third shift at the mill (he worked in the boiler room); my sisters, and sometimes along with our cousins, would have stayed the night with our grandmother. I would be the first up and join them at the table for coffee and reading the paper (they gave me the comics section). I noticed that my grandmother would not just fix him something to eat, she would sit down and join him at the table. They continued this even when he retired.

When was the last time you just spent time with your spouse? My husband and I got to do just that this past week. We were scheduled to take a cruise to the West Caribbean. This trip was originally planned for May of 2020, to celebrate our twentieth anniversary. As we all know, Covid detoured that. We rescheduled it for Spring of 2021, but the cruise industry still had not started back up again. We scheduled it again for this month. Covid stopped us again and we decided to take that money and just drive down to Orlando, Florida. My husband and I went to Disney World without our teenage boys. We called on my mom to be with them at night and left those boys at home. My husband had already taken the time off, so we were not going to stop our time alone again.

We had the most fun! Disney as an a grown couple, without kids, is quite an experience. We got to act like we were goofy teenagers again. Considering we started dating when I was fifteen and he was eighteen, this was like an old hat. We rode all the different rides. We got to experience new things. We flirted with each other. We got to spend every moment together from sun up, to sun down, for seven whole nights!!

Why was this important? The Word tells us to “guard the spirit of marriage within you.” Part of guarding something means that you need to make sure it is strong. Nothing will come between you. You will protect it.You honor it. You will not do any of those things if you do not see value in your marriage. You guard something that you value.

“God, not man, made marriage. His spirit inhabits even the smallest details of marriage…” Invite the Holy Spirit into your marriage. Invite Him into the smallest details. What details do you need to give Him access to?

Jesus tells us in Matthew 19:12 (MSG) “But if you are capable of growing into the largeness of marriage, do it.” God is in the small details. Marriage is a relationship that Jesus compared His love for the Body of Christ to. Do you not think it is special to Him? Treat it as such.

Today I encourage you to do something to strengthen your marriage. If you cannot do a week away, try to plan an over night activity. If you usually do not sit down together for a meal at home, may I encourage you to start there. Play a game together. Read a book together. Cook a meal together. Grow into the largeness of your marriage!